Page 18 of Horn in My Side

“No!” She stepped forward, ready to shield Kaylie from the seventy-pound canine about to crash into them. Before she could even brace herself for the impact, Mal dove in front of them and caught Cora. A cheer went up from the audience.

“Are you okay?” Mal turned to face Jasmine, a squirming Cora in his arms, fox stuffie in her mouth.

“Y-yeah, thanks. Kaylie?”

“I’m g-good, Miss Jasmine.” She crept around from behind her, her eyes growing to the size of the moon. “Thank you, Mr. Mal.”

“No prob, kiddo.” Mal placed Cora on her paws and whistled, and she immediately sat down.

“Whew, that was a close one,” Jasmine said. “Wasn’t that awesome? Kaylie, where did you put the stuffie?”

“In the boys’ bathroom,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I thought the smell in there would stop her.”

There were a few “eww”s and “yuck”s from the crowd and laughs from the adults.

Jasmine chuckled. “Good thinking, Kaylie, but like I said, nothing will stop a laelaps from finding its prey, not even a stinky bathroom.” Another laugh rang out.

“After today, Cora will be headed to her new home on a ranch in Montana, where she’ll be living with a wonderful family with three kids.

So, say bye-bye to Cora, everyone.” As the children waved and shouted their goodbyes, Mal led Cora back to her pen.

“And thanks so much for volunteering, Kaylie.”

“Thank you, Miss Jasmine, Mr. Mal.” She waved at them before following Mrs. Howard as she led her back to her seat. “So, now we have our last friend. His name is Felix, and he’s a carbuncle kit.”

Jasmine had gotten the idea to bring the carbuncle from the little cyclops boy and his mom.

It was unlikely that any of the parents watching would want to buy a tizzie whizie or laelaps for their child, but a carbuncle kit was the perfect starter pet for any child.

That and they were adorable and had luminescent fur, a must for kids who were afraid of the dark.

A little marketing and publicity never hurt, after all, and she especially needed it now, if the shop’s finances were as dire as Mal said they were.

“Let’s say hello to Felix!”

Felix, however, wasn’t keen on cooperating this morning. Mal placed his carrier on the floor and opened the gate, but the little creature remained inside.

“Oh dear, I think he’s a bit shy.” She looked up at Mal, unsure what to do.

His eyebrows did that furrowing thing. “Do you have any treats?”

“Oh, good idea.” Reaching into her purse, she found half a dental treat she had stashed in there when she was rushing to get home after playing with the tygre cubs.

She placed it in front of the open crate.

A few seconds later, Felix came out, sniffing at the treat before he began to munch on it, his bushy blue tail wagging and ears twitching happily.

Jasmine went through her speech, talking about the carbuncle.

At one point, she asked that the lights be dimmed and sure enough little Felix began to glow, eliciting “ooh”s and “aahh”s from the children.

When the lights turned on, Mrs. Howard waved to her and pointed at her wristwatch, indicating that she should wrap it up.

“Looks like we’re almost out of time. Let’s say bye to Felix.”

Mal opened up the crate door, but instead of heading inside, the little kit decided to run up the orc’s arm instead. The orc jumped back and nearly tumbled, but caught himself in time. The carbuncle, however, circled his neck before settling round it, like a fur scarf. Mal grunted and frowned.

A burst of giggles broke out from the kids and Jasmine had to bite her lip hard to stop from laughing. “I don’t think Felix is ready to go home yet.”

The kit let out a chirp of agreement, and the lines between Mal’s eyebrows deepened. He tried to brush him off, and though he unfurled his bushy tail, Felix crawled down to his arms and snuggled in before closing his eyes for a snooze.

A collective “awww” rang out from the audience. Jasmine had to admit, it was a cute sight, especially now that Mal’s frown had been replaced by a bewildered expression.

“Thank you, everyone, we’ll see you next time,” Jasmine said.

As applause broke out, she let out an internal sigh of relief.

She couldn’t believe she’d made it through this without embarrassing herself.

Looking over her shoulder, she glanced toward Mal who was placing the sleeping kit inside the carrier.

After shutting the door, he turned to her. “Thank Vorlak we’re done.”

“I don’t know, Mal . . . You looked the height of fashion with a fur scarf,” she teased.

He flashed her a wry smile. “I’ll be sure to bring my matching heels and purse next time.”

Wait, did Mal just . . . crack a joke?

Before she could react, he lifted the cage, placed it on top of the others, then pushed the cart backstage.

She trotted after him, doubling her steps to keep up with his longer strides. “Thanks so much, Mal. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

He stopped pushing and swung around to face her. “You did great, Jasmine. What did I tell you? Here, let me.”

“Let you—” Her breath hitched as he reached out to her, the soft pads of his fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked back the annoying lock of loose hair behind her ear. Her heart stopped at the contact, and she couldn’t help but stare up at his indigo eyes.

“There,” he said, his voice so gentle, it made shivers crawl up the back of her knees.

“Jasmine, Mal, thank you so much,” Mrs. Howard called from behind.

Spell broken, she turned to face the principal. “You’re welcome, Mrs. Howard. I hope that was okay. I’m no Vrig, after all.”

“No, and you don’t have to be. You did wonderfully. I’m sure Vrig would have been proud.”

“Jasmine, ma’am,” Mal interrupted. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to load up the truck and return the cart to Coach Jennings.”

“Of course, Mal, go ahead.”

The orc gave her a curt nod, then went back to pushing the cart toward the exit that led out to the parking lot.

“Thank you again,” Mrs. Howard repeated. “The children and parents were thrilled.”

“You’re welcome.” Jasmine especially hoped the latter truly were thrilled enough to visit the shop.

“By the way, a few of the parents and teachers sent me photos they took during your presentation and have also shared them on their social media and tagged you.”

“They have?” Taking her phone out, she saw notifications lighting up the screen. “Oh wow.”

Fantastic Tails didn’t have much of a social-media following.

Vrig never set them up, and so it was up to Jasmine to create and maintain the accounts.

With her being so busy managing the shop, she only had time to post a few photos and flyers for sales here and there, and to answer direct messages when they did come.

Kap had been bugging her to do more, but she didn’t really see the point.

But now that some accounts had tagged Fantastic Tails, several photos began appearing on their feed.

There were a few of the animals, but she noticed something else—a lot were of Mal.

One was of him catching Cora, the laelaps looking majestic as it leapt into the air.

It already had fifty hearts. Another one, of him with the sleeping Felix snuggled against him, had a hundred hearts.

“That’s amazing,” she said. “I should thank the parents.”

“They’re eager to meet you and Mal. Some of the teachers too, especially the women.” Her eyes darted toward the exit. “He is a fine specimen, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Er . . .”

“If only I was ten years younger.” She sighed. “Anyway, can I bring out a couple people to say hi?”

“Uh, sure. We’ll be in the parking lot.”

“Thanks, Jasmine.”

As Jasmine scrolled through her feed, she had to agree.

Mal was, indeed, a very fine specimen. The one with Felix in his arms showed off those muscled forearms she’d been ogling herself, not to mention that the top button of his shirt had come undone and gave a little peek of a well-formed pec.

The top comment on the photo was three fire emojis.

She put the phone away before she started drooling. Besides, she had to focus on what was important—all those eyes on their accounts. While she didn’t know much about social media, she knew enough that this had the potential to become big .

“Mal.” She jogged toward him. “Wait.”

Done loading the truck, Mal latched the gate with a firm click . “What is it? I need to wheel the cart back to the gym then we can head back to the shop.”

“Uhm, about that. We can stay a couple minutes, right?”

“Why?”

“Well, some of the parents and some teachers want to meet with you.”

“Me? Why can’t you do it?”

“It’s just for a little bit. They want to thank you,” she reasoned. “Oh look, here they come.” A group of about ten people was approaching them. “Just say hello, please? Parents are one of our biggest customers. You said you’d help me, right?”

“I guess?” He let out what sounded like a half-grunt, half-sigh. “Fine.”

“And I’ll take a few photos for our social media account too. I forgot to give my phone to Mrs. Howard before we started.”

“But—”

“There you are.” Mrs. Howard waved a hand as she trotted toward them. “Mal, I have a few people here with me who want to say hello.”

It didn’t escape Jasmine’s notice that they were all women, of course. They flocked around him, like bees to honey.

“Hello, Mr. Mal,” one of the women drawled, offering her hand. “I’m Marie Lamont, first-grade homeroom teacher. Kaylie’s my student.”

“Er, hi. And it’s just Mal.” He shook her hand.

Jasmine whipped out her phone, ignoring the acidic ache forming in her chest as she began to take photos of Mal and the women.

They were all young, fit and attractive, and eyeing Mal like he was the last meal on earth.

When one of them leaned her head close to Mal’s as he bent down to take a selfie with her, Jasmine gritted her teeth.

Mal, however, seemed oblivious to the female attention.

He was pleasant enough, answering their questions and posing for selfies with them.

Once they were done, Jasmine asked them for any photos they took during the assembly and for permission to post them on the shop’s socials. A few of the women also promised to stop by in the next few days, as well as during the Founding Day Festival.

As they drove back toward Main Street, Jasmine checked the tagged photos again. The photo of Mal and Felix now had two hundred and fifty hearts, and the Fantastic Tails account’s followers— Oh Mother Goddess —had doubled.

She snuck a glance at Mal. It wasn’t as if she was the one who’d taken and uploaded that photo of him.

But it did give her an incentive to start being active on social media, get the word out about the shop.

Who knows, it might even get a few more people through the door.

Increased foot traffic wasn’t a bad thing, after all, even if they just came in to get a glimpse of Mal.

Her thoughts went back to the women from earlier who were attempting to flirt with him. Did he really not notice? Or was he just being discreet? Anyone could easily find out who he was and slide into his DM s, and Jasmine would never know.

She touched her cheek, remembering how his fingers had brushed against it when he tucked back her hair. Thoughts of those women faded as a warm and fuzzy sensation filled her chest. It also made her think of things she had absolutely no business thinking about.

Jasmine cringed inwardly. This silly crush had to go away, somehow. It wouldn’t do her any good and would just distract her from her goals. Fighting against the urge to look at him, she focused on the road ahead.